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We have 2 red factor Greys here one who is pushing 30 yrs old and then our other was a normal Grey but went through a brief feather picking behavior perhaps due to leaving her 2nd home and joining us. Pookie has red upper leg feather back of neck and a few on her chest. Smokey Joe grew the red feathers around his neck just a few scattered to upper back not certain if those will remain, time will tell.

The access to this forum got very flaky a while back so I have been away. But It now it all seems to be hunky dory 🙂

Thank you so much. Chiango gets vegetables every day. He loves pumpkin, spinach and carrots, although he prefers them cooked. I have 4 African Grey's, Chjango is the only one I bought, the rest are rescues. I also have a rescue Indian Ringneck. They all have their favourite foods. They all love spaghetti too. They have a large outside avery although they sleep inside at night, as we live on a farm and have owls as well as gennets, who will go for them if they as left out at night. Only one bites, and that is the Greek. He loves my man, and although I feed him and clean his huge inside cage, he goes for me. The other are just so sweet, especially when the all perch on chairs around the kitchen table and get a few treats like cashew nuts. I love my birds. They are part of the family. Each one has their own personality. Chjango sings opera. They all talk and pick up the amazing little things. When the phone rings, they will all say "Hello" and if I pick up my car keys, they say "Bye!" They know all our names. Chiang will say ooh, every time he is given something to eat. He will not say thank you, so ooh has to suffice.

Hello, I have my African grey boy for 4,5 months now, he's almost 2 years old and had only one owner previously. He has amazing personality and such a fast learner, he learned already so many new words and sounds from me. He's very comfortable with me and constantly staying on his one leg, and has the belly shiver when I even talk to him ( the sign that he's actually happy). He doesn't have any problem to take food from my hands and even from my lips and he gives me lots of kisses, he's not scared to be very close to my face and even touches my hair with his beak, but at the same time in no way he will step up on my hand ( but he was stepping up on the previous owner). As soon as I'll put my hand next to him in the position to step up he becomes very scared and sometimes even starts to shiver or he's trying to "fly away". He can't fly at all as when I got him the previous owner clipped his wing terribly ( the vet did ), only 1 wing was clipped which is totally wrong and was literally until the "meat" ( so he had no feathers there at all, and he was falling so many times that I constantly had blankets on the floor so in case he falls he won't hurt himself. Still at the beginning he even had a bit of blood there which was extremely upsetting. Hopefully the wings grew a bit back after quite a long time even if he still can't fly. I've never done anything bad to him to be so scared of my hands for the stepping up, so I really don't understand his reaction. I can see he loves me and he's constantly looking for contact with me but at the same time he doesn't let me touch him completely. He doesn't live in his cage. I mean, I put the training stand right next to his cage with an open door so he can get out any time and goes from the cage's door to the stand and he's always free, he also sleeps on the stand or inside his cage whenever he wants ( I don't cover him at night, I just turn the light when he's ready to sleep). I'm extremely patient with him as I do love him a lot but I'm getting a bit desperate with what to do and how to make him step up and what am I doing wrong? Any of your advice will be much appreciate it and I really hope someone can help me with it. Thanks a lot in advance!!

I am not suggesting that others do as I did, but I feel like the luckiest grey parront around. Had I met all three chicks prior to World knowledge reserving Gracie, I may have been tempted to choose one of the cuddly greys that just soaked up human attention. I often questioned myself.

Glad you are back!

That’s good our ruby is great she loves dancing and whistles a lot and talks a little, I think we’ve given her a much much better home than she had and she is a happy girl now

Their personality will take months to come out. We thought we knew our Huey but he keeps surprising us with things his old owner told us he did and is just now starting to do for us over 6 months later.

Thank you she is so sweet and loves to be held maybe she’ll come around more with time today is only her second day with us lol I just want her to be as happy as can be!

Its possible he has developed a hand phobia, some birds just do not like hands so offer an arm for him to step up on and see if the reaction is the same. I don't usually wear nail polish so if on occasion I do wear some my grey doesn't like it at all, she thinks its something out to kill her. Its good you are very patient with him and it can take longer than 4.5 months for him to fully trust you as grey time is slow time. As for the wing trim, how can someone think that clipping only one side is a proper trim, the way you describe your bird was butchered plain and simple and that person should never touch your bird or any bird again, I'd be mad as hell if it happened to my bird, that person would be "butchered" if you get my drift.

Most greys do not like being touched unless its by their chosen ones, for instance my grey will not allow me to rub her neck but will allow my husband to do almost anything with her for she has chosen him as her favorite person so you may have to settle for not getting to touch her much. She is biting because she is telling you she doesn't like what you are doing, you can't force her to do anything she doesn't want to do but you can learn to read her body language to avoid most bites. Not biting hard is giving you warnings but if you persist she may deliver one you will remember. The wings will grow back and she may already know how to fly if allowed to fledge when she was younger but time will tell, allow them to grow back and leave them that way for they are birds and meant to fly.

Also she had her wings clipped when I got he but if I let them grow can she learn to fly in a controlled environment? Or will they not fully grow back

Ruby seems to not like being petted she doesn’t mind you holding her but doesn’t want to be petted she also bites a lot not hard but I was wondering how can I discourage the biting and screeching?

Welcome and thank you for the post and pictures. Your sweet bird is called a Red-factor Grey. This occurs naturally (genetically) and sometimes as they fall out, the replacement feathers will be grey. In extremely rare cases, it can be because of a medical condition. May I suggest, realizing that some of the foods mentioned are your Fid's favorites, it is advised that you should only feed 100% whole grain bread a couple times a week. Fruit, again very little should be fed to a Grey...it's mostly sugar with no nutritional value, 2-3 times a week which is great. White potatoes should be substituted with sweet potatoes. I am sure you know that they never can eat the "eyes" of a white potato. Eggs, 2-3 times a week is great. Suggestion, wash the egg before hard-boiling to reduce any chance of salmonella. Cut the egg in half, in the shell and serve the shell and all to your fid. You can even take the shell, after it is cooked and bake at 350 degrees and crumble over other fresh food. Hard pasta such as spaghetti (uncooked) is good substitute for bread. Have you ever made birdie bread? Get a cornmeal muffin mix similar to Jiffy, add baby food jars, (I use two), three eggs, with cooked and smashed shells, and go crazy with your choices of bird seeds, frozen mixed veggies, etc. Use your imagination...and bake to instructions. As a final thought, the food chain for a parrot is most to least, green leafy veggies, orange veggies, a safflower seed mix (staple), fruit, and bread. It's not the small amount of salt or sugar that can kill a parrot, it is the accumulation of such that will affect them in the long run. Finally, a couple times of week, boiled chicken bones (Legs) with a little meat on them, no or low-sodium tuna, and our favorite, a 1/2 tsp. of low/no-sodium peanut butter to start the day...(an excellent seed mix to leave in the cage 24/7 is Volkman's Large Hookbill Safflower Mix, no sunflower seeds. Two excellent on-line sources are Chewy.com and Amazon)

Welcome! This is only a suggestion....assorted possibilities can be color of fingernail polish if worn, fragrance on hands from lotion, soap, gloves, etc. Thank you.

My beautiful Chjango (Big Boy) has pink feathers on his back and his chest. When he grooms himself sometimes they are pulled out and grow back with others sprouting. It started with one feather. Now he must have about 20. He is a healthy male and is 10 years old. Loving and very vocal, especially when it comes to food he will let rip with "Where's my tos (toast) apple, orange, egg egg egg, air (pear)." His favourite food is toast, mashed potato and egg, either boiled or scrambled. He is also an avid consumer of any fruit. I have attached a photo. D